Sleeping in cemetery ends a 'walk in the jungle'

Posted: November 12, 2010 - 1:09pm

I don't remember what day of week that it was or even what time of year. When you work seven days a week you lose track of time. But I remember the day very vividly. I was a forward observer with Company B, 34th Infantry Battalion, 9th Division.

We were living on Navy ships in the South China Sea and making mud landings with Mike 8 boats along the Mytho River. On that particular morning, we boarded the boats about 2:30 a.m. We arrived at the landing about 7 a.m.

About 10 a.m. we entered a clearing and were immediately pinned down. The Vietcong had constructed a bunker in the tallest tree visible to the naked eye. Later, when calling in gunships, all I had to do to orient the pilots was to give them our general location and say it was the tallest tree. They took it from there. The bunker was made of coconut logs and mud and was impregnable with our rifles and too far away for the 60mm mortars.

During the next 10 hours, we lost 14 men to a sniper in the bunker. Two Huey medical evacuation helicopters were shot down. One of our platoon sergeants crawled to the helicopters and retrieved the M-14 rifles for distance and accuracy, but they could not penetrate the fortress in the tree, either.

I was also calling in helicopter gunships and a 155 Howitzer. The jungle is a very funny and scary place. One minute you can't see two feet in front of your face and have to fight your way through with a machete. The next you are in a clearing and facing the enemy.

I finally had to call off the gunships as they were not getting the job done.

I was now calling in 105 Howitzers located on the barges and 8-inch Howitzers. I got down to walking the artillery 10 meters at a time when we finally hit the tree with the 105 Howitzer.

All that time I had a bad habit of saying, "give me a left 10, add 10, over."

The battalion officer over the forward observer said, "You need to use proper radio procedure or get off the air."

The battalion commander came on the radio and said, "This is Six. If you want to call the artillery, get on the ground or shut up."

That was the end of that. I was never questioned again on radio procedure. I called for fire for effect. Four volleys and the bunker was destroyed.

When I got up I did not realize that I had dug myself in the ground at least 6 inches. I guess it was through the movement of my body or God pushing me down so as not to get hit.

We had to move out and go by that tree. It was kind of scary. It was so high that the limbs that I knocked off were above our head. When walking away it was a beautiful sight to see Puff the Magic Dragon, a C-47 plane with, I believe, four .50-caliber machine guns shooting out the side door. They were coming down the small creek like a water hose flushing the remaining VC. The moon came out and all was OK with the world again.

Our day ended about midnight when we wound up sleeping in a cemetery we knew would not flood. You would think that with all the excitement we would not be able to go to sleep. I can guarantee you we were all asleep in a very short time. What a day to end a walk in the jungle.